Present armor-piercing projectiles are manufactured using a process that's been used for decades. These projectiles successfully defeated armor in the past, but are not capable of defeating modern armor except at very short ranges. In addition, these armor-piercing projectiles are heavy and inaccurate at long range. As a result, they are useful only at short ranges and add substantial weight to the heavy load already carried by a soldier or vehicle. The effectiveness of these armor-piercing projectiles is improved by using a deplete uranium core. However, the uranium increases the weight of the armor-piercing projectiles and does nothing to improve their accuracy. A number of studies suggest that increased cancers and other abnormalities seen in the first Gulf war were due to the use of depleted uranium penetrators and are becoming evident in the current conflict in Afghanistan and in Iraq. The uranium provides its improvement via its extreme mass, but improvements in the basic construction of armor-piercing projectiles have not been addressed.
Thus there exists a need for a lighter, more effective and more accurate armor-piercing projectiles.